ACARS Wind Measurements: An Intercomparison with Radiosonde, Cloud Motion and VAS Thermally Derived Winds

Abstract

Statistical comparisons between winds measured by ACARS and winds obtained from radiosondes, geostationary satellite image cloud motions, and VAS are presented. Observations from three separate comparisons reveal over 60% of wind vector magnitude differences are within 9 m s?1, and 70% of the directional differences are within 15°. The comparisons indicate that the ACARS system provides an independent source of wind data that complements other sources of wind data for constructing composite wind field analyses.